A report from a Chinese publication claims that Huawei is testing a smartphone running on its homegrown Hongmeng operating system. The device will be reportedly available in the market by the end of 2019.
The Hongmeng OS phone would be priced around $300, putting it on par with devices priced on the lower end of the smartphone market, Global Times said, citing unnamed sources.
The report mentions that the Hongmeng OS would be "an alternative to Google's Android OS." Huawei is reportedly planning to release the phone at the Developer Conference in Dongguan, China on Aug. 9. In addition, Hongmeng would be featured on the company's Honor smart TVs and could soon expand into other fields like autonomous driving.
Huawei is furthering its move to release its own operating system as its relationship with the US remain tense after being blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce in May. The move prevented the company from buying imported parts and components from US companies without the approval of the American government. President Donald Trump and his administration previously raised concerns that Huawei may be using technology that is deemed a threat in the national security of the US, and that it may be used a vehicle for espionage.
Google cut ties with Huawei in response to the ban and said that it would discontinue providing updates to all devices manufactured by the company. Furthermore, new Huawei phones won't have access to Google-owned apps, including YouTube, Gmail, and other popular third-party services.
Huawei responded as any company should and advanced the development of its own operating system in order to continue delivering its services and maintain the position of being a leader in global smartphone technology. It was previously reported that the company has been preparing its own "plan B" before the ban was implemented, just in case.
A Huawei executive told Chinese news agency Xinhua last week that the Hongmeng OS is not be used by consumers but rather for industrial purposes. With this new news, the report appears to be contradictory.
The Global Times cites a source who says that Huawei is currently testing how compatible HongMeng is with Android apps. This unnamed source also says that HongMeng offers cryptographic features allowing user's personal data and privacy to be better protected than they are on Android.
Tensions remain between the US and Huawei, but the Trump administration has recently loosened the restrictions it placed on the Chinese tech behemoth.
